Amazon currently has some pretty good sales going on, here are the highlights:
LEGO Kingdoms Joust 10223
LEGO Monster Fighters 9463 The Werewolf
Lego Friends Heartlake Stables 3189
LEGO® Architecture Brandenburg Gate 21011
LEGO City Police Forest Station 4440
LEGO Star Wars 9516 Jabba’s Palace
LEGO Star Wars 9496 Desert Skiff
LEGO Wolverine Chopper Showdown 6866
LEGO Architecture Farnsworth House 21009
The London Toy Fair revealed that the Series 10 Minifigures will contain 5,000 gold minifigs randomly distributed across the world. Sounds interesting, what do you think?
Registration is now open for the third annual Brick Fiesta that will take place in Dallas from July 4-7. This is a standard 4 day Lego convention with the usual activities you’d expect plus the weekend public exhibit. I will of course be there since I am a Dallas resident and I hope to see many of you there!
We had some intermittent downtime this evening, and I used Facebook and Twitter to communicate with our readers about our status.
That reminded me that it’s been a long time since we let everyone know out there who isn’t already a subscriber on either of those other services that you can get notifications about new posts here on The Brothers Brick without ever leaving Facebook or Twitter.
Both of these are great ways to get in touch with us if you’re having trouble with our (sadly all-too-often buggy) contact page. We also hope to have a mobile-optimized site online sometime soon, making it even easier to stay current with TBB when you’re on the go.
While we’re at it, I’ll highlight a few more ways to get your TBB fix beyond Brothers-Brick.com.
Finally, I’ll mention our Google+ page. Unfortunately (the last time I checked), Google hasn’t released an API that lets sites like Brothers-Brick.com post updates to G+ pages, so it’s just a placeholder for now. We know that we have readers at Google, so *nudge nudge*
The newest LEGO set in the modular building line, 10232 Palace Cinema is being officially unveiled this evening at BrickFair Alabama in Birmingham. Though LEGO’s official photos surfaced earlier this month, this is the first time we’ve gotten details about pricing and release date. 10232 Palace Cinema will return the line to its traditional price point of $150 USD for 2,194 pieces and 6 minifigs, with a release date in March.
Naturally, Palace Cinema connects to all the other modular buildings.
The set comes with an open-top stretch limo.
The interior includes seats, a projector & screen, and concession stand.
I’ve uploaded all the photos to a photoset on Flickr.
Here’s the official announcement from LEGO:
10232 Palace Cinema
Ages 16+. 2,194 pieces.
US $149.99 CA $199.99 DE 139,99€ UK 119.99 £ DK 1,099.00 DKKBuild a grand premiere at the Palace Cinema!
It’s premiere night at the Palace Cinema! Illuminate the night sky with the spotlights as the child star arrives in a fancy black limousine! Gather the crowd on the star-studded sidewalk, then head into the detailed lobby with a concession stand and ticket area! Take the grand staircase into the theater with a large screen, movie projector and reclining chairs for 6 minifigures. Introducing the latest addition to the LEGO® Modular Buildings series, the highly detailed, 2-story Palace Cinema corner building. This collectible model features a sidewalk of the stars, brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, a tower with spires and rooftop decorations. Includes 6 minifigures: child actress, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker.
- Includes 6 minifigures: child star, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker
- Features brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, tower with spires and rooftop decoration, lobby, concession stand, ticket area, staircase, big screen, projector and reclining seats for 6 minifigures
- Vehicles include classic-style limousine
- Hard-to-find elements include a red baseplate and dark tan, dark red, and gold pieces
- Seat a 6-minifigure audience in the reclining seats!
- Play on the star-studded sidewalk, in the detailed lobby or in the big-screen theater!
- Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO® Modular Buildings collection: 10224 Town Hall, 10218 Pet Shop and 10211 Grand Emporium!
- Palace Cinema measures 15″ (38cm) high, 10″ (25.5cm) wide, and 10″ (25.5cm) deep
- Limousine measures 1.6″ (4cm) high, 5.9″ (15cm) long, and 1.9″ (5cm) wide
Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning
March 2013 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone
LEGO Chima Cragger Command Ship 70006
Will Chapman over at BrickArms was featured on yesterday’s episode of Evening Magazine here in Seattle. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, everyone else in the world can now watch the segment, in which Will talks about the origins of his business and his creative process, and shows off some of the equipment he uses in his shop.
Mike Crowley passed away yesterday. He was my friend.
Mike leaves a legacy behind in the LEGO community. So many of us were blessed with his friendship and presence, and his absence due to illness in recent years has been noted. He was such a big personality with such a passionate, caring heart. This world is a little dimmer without him in it.
His activities with NELUG notwithstanding, Mike was a prolific and brilliant builder. His flickr stream is filled with such innovative uses for parts that showed such character for what he was trying achieve with anything he tried.
Beyond his building, beyond his artistic talent, Mike is, was, and always will be a friend first and foremost. In looking back, my memories aren’t always of the incredible things he built. My memories are of laughter until our sides hurt; of feather-boas and tiaras. Of a harrowing van-trip through downtown Portland accompanied by Lonely Island’s “I’m On a Boat.” My memories are of Chinese food, and the EMP. Of “confessions” at T.S. McHughs over nachos. Of late nights at LEGO fan conventions (which many attendees will tell you flat out that the brick is nice, but the friends are better).
My memories are of late night talks, of LEGO and music, movies and TV, of life and relationships. Of finding a way to make everything so bright when it should have been dark.
Mike made such an impact in my life, and the lives of others. All of us here at The Brothers Brick knew and admired him as a person and as a builder. He’ll be sorely missed.
I invite you to share your own stories and memories of Mike in the comments.
You can also read Mike’s obituary, along with details about funeral arrangements and donations, on the funeral home’s website.
Last time we highlighted the awesome hardsuit designed by Peter Reid, his LEGO CUUSOO project had just over 6,500 supporters and we were rooting for it to hit 10,000 for the Fall Review Cycle starting last September 3rd. It’s taken a little while longer, but I’m overjoyed to see this highly original, truly creative project hit 10K!
This just happened today, so no official comment from LEGO yet, and based on what we’ve seen over the last several months, it’ll probably be quite a while before we learn whether we’ll all be able to buy a copy of Pete’s suit (well into the next review cycle), but congratulations to Pete for this important first step!
Marvel and LEGO have just announced another video game from TT Games, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. The game will feature an original storyline and is due out this autumn.
Here’s the official post from Marvel.com:
Marvel super heroes are assembling for an action-packed, brick-smashing good time! Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, The LEGO Group and Marvel Entertainment announced today that “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” will be available beginning Fall 2013 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, the Wii U system and Windows PC, as well as the Nintendo DS handheld system, Nintendo 3DS handheld system and PlayStation Vita handheld entertainment system. “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” is the first installment in the highly successful LEGO videogame franchise to feature famous Marvel characters.
“LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,” coming Fall 2013
“LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” complements the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes construction toy collection, which brings the characters, vehicles and action of Marvel’s renowned universe to the world of LEGO build-and-play adventure. There are currently eight iconic scenes from the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises available and more construction sets tied to the new “Iron Man 3” feature film will launch later this spring.
“LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” offers an original storyline in which Nick Fury calls upon Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and other heroes spanning the Marvel Universe to save Earth from such threats as the vengeance of Loki and the hunger of Galactus, Devourer of the Worlds. LEGO and Marvel fans will enjoy classic LEGO videogame adventure and humor, while playing as their favorite Marvel characters.
“We’re very excited to bring a myriad of classic Marvel characters to life in LEGO form for some fun, family-friendly gameplay in ‘LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,’” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “Players will brave the ultimate mission to save the world as they explore famous landmarks in LEGO New York and take the adventure beyond Earth to iconic locations in the Marvel Universe.”
“Fans of both LEGO and Marvel have wanted this game for years, and we’re addressing that demand with more Marvel Universe characters than ever in a console game,” said TQ Jefferson, Vice President, Games Production, Marvel Entertainment. “If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy or scores of other Marvel characters, this is the game for you.”
In “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,” players will unlock more than 100 characters from across the Marvel Universe, including fan favorites like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Deadpool, Loki and Galactus! The game will pack in a plethora of super-cool character abilities, combat-like action sequences, epic battle scenes, puzzle-solving and a unique story told with playful LEGO humor.
“LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. For more information, please visit http://videogames.lego.com/en-us/lego-marvel-super-heroes.
The next generation of LEGO Mindstorms was just revealed and is scheduled for release this summer. You can read about the new features on TechnicBRICKs or in the official press release on Engadget. The retail value is $349.99(USD), €349.99(EUR) and $399.99(CAD).
I’ve been rather less active in promoting Brickvention (Australia’s premier LEGO convention) this year, entirely because I’m rather sad to not be going this time around. But I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t remind all our Melbourne readers that it’s coming soon (19th and 20th January 2013 to be precise) and you need to book your tickets ASAP. In my experience each year gets bigger and better and since the last one was super fun I’ve absolutely no doubt this one will be even more excellent.
Sadly exhibitor and convention tickets are sold out so if you’re not already booked in you must go as a visitor. And I cannot stress enough that you need to book your tickets in advance and that the event has entirely sold out each recent year.
Brickvention is Australia’s premier LEGO® fan convention
Brickvention is an Australian based convention for LEGO® fans. It is a two-day event that brings together LEGO fans of all ages from all over Australia to view original and unusual creations built by Australian modelers and collectors. So if you love LEGO, come along and view the amazing creations and models made out of LEGO.
The event features a huge collection of LEGO models including trains, castles, pirate ships, Star Wars™, space ships, planes, buildings, sculptures and many more. There will also be competitions, face painting and LEGO sets and merchandise for sale.
The next Brickvention will be held over the weekend of 19th and 20th January 2013 at The Royal Exhibition Building, Nicholson Street, Carlton, Victoria, where anyone can come along and view the amazing creations made out of LEGO.
LEGO fans of all ages are welcome on the Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am – 5:30pm.